Corsair PSU's rock! Those or OCZ..

all i can think of is playstation underground, that old cd "magazine"

oh

if you paid with credit card then there's a record of you paying to the store

if that doesnt work call your tv station and have them film the thing catch fire

Antec

I called the manufacturer directly. It's an apex al-b500e power supply. The said that without the invoice they won't issue a replacement. I've searched through all my finacial records and can't figure out when I bought it, all I know is that it was an online store in 2008. Nothing else was damaged. There's nothing on the psu that can be used to pinpoint a date.

I offered to mail it to the manufacturer for them to investigate the fire for a possible recall. I think that was the right thing to say because they're now "making an exception" and have offered to send me a replacement

hihihi

I don't know about local consumer law where you are, but consumer rights in the UK are quite well enshrined in law and responsibility for defect products ultimately lie with the manufacturer.  If it goes "pfffttt" (or in your case "fizz" and *flame!*) after an unacceptable time frame they are required by law to replace it free of charge.

If he bought it online then he'll have bank statements or credit card statements.  If he doesn't have the original copies he should be able to request copies from his bank.  I've no idea about credit card companies as I don't use them.  (Out of principle and out of laziness.) 

I was also hoping that people would guess that you need proof of purchase in order to obtain a replacement.  It is kind of obvious? 

The point about making that comment was actually to highlight a rather unknown tid-bit of UK consumer law for those who were interested. People generally assume that because it is outside of the standard 1 year guarantee period that there's nothing they can do.  That couldn't be further from the truth.